Gray’s attorneys called the governor’s decision disappointing, noting that dozens of mental health professionals had also asked for his life to be spared. Virginia will be the first state to use midazolam from a compounding pharmacy, his attorneys say. Grey had asked McAuliffe to commute his sentence to life in prison — the same sentence given to Dandridge, who pleaded guilty to the Baskerville-Tucker killings. As a child, Gray was brutally beaten by his father with a PVC pipe and other objects and raped almost daily by his older brother, Gray’s attorneys say. They say Gray began using powerful drugs at a young age to deal with the emotional effects of that abuse.

Source: National Post January 18, 2017 15:54 UTC